There is a constant drive in the semiconducting manufacturing industry to improve the performance capabilities of integrated circuit devices and to reduce the manufacturing costs associated with mass production of integrated circuit devices. This constant drive has led engineers and scientists to explore alternative materials and structures for integrated circuit devices, e.g., transistors, diodes, resistors, etc., in an effort to create better performing devices and to reduce the cost of manufacturing such devices.
In recent years, advances have been made with respect to research and development related to nanoparticle structures, such as carbon nanotubes. In general, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have better semiconducting properties than silicon and are potentially capable of handling very high currents. Carbon nanotube structures are also physically very strong.
Despite these inherent advantages, the use of carbon nanotubes in a variety of industries is limited to the fact that the carbon nanotubes tend to grow only along the electric field gradient and hence normal to the surface of the substrate. This growth characteristic makes the use of carbon nanotubes problematic in some applications in the semiconductor manufacturing industry. For example, the vertical growth characteristics of the carbon nanotubes makes their use in horizontal trenches formed in a semiconducting substrate difficult.
What is desired is a system and methods for accurately placing nanoparticles, e.g., carbon nanoparticles, at desired locations. Such a system and methods will advance the use of carbon nanotubes in the field of semiconductor manufacturing as well as in other fields.
The present invention is directed to a system and various methods that may solve, or at least reduce, some or all of the aforementioned problems.